My learning curve....

Starting in the month of September I, along with two of my friends embarked on a journey to learn to love our curves. Now you may be asking yourself- what is the best way to learn to love your curves? The answer my friends is to take a Belly Dancing Class.
Last summer at a singles activity we had a demonstration on how to Hula. My friend and I had so much fun learning that we decided we wanted to continue learning . I tried to find a class but my searches kept coming up empty. I did come across a belly dancing class offered by UVU in their community classes. I sent an email to my friends and with in the next few weeks we enrolled.
The first day of class was a CRAZY day for all of us. My friend Brooke is a school teacher she teaches first grade. My other friend Lyndall works with troubled teens and does home visits on Tuesday nights. As for me very rarely are Tuesdays busy or crazy for us at work but this week was the exception. I waked out the door at 5:15 and there was still some cleaning up to do. I told everyone at work that I had paid for the class and was not going to miss it. Brooke and I live in the same apartment complex and decided to carpool to American Fork. The class started at 6 and we were fighting rush hour traffic to get there. Needless to say we were all late to our first class.
Our teacher we awesome! Her dancer name or stage name is Halima and boy can she move. There were women of all ages, shapes and sizes in the class and we all clicked within a matter of minutes. We started right in with learning how to do figure eights. First front to back and then back to front. You learn to isolate muscles you didn't even know you had. It was just as much of a work out for your brain as it was for your muscles. We also found out on our first day that at the end of the class there would be a dance recital were we would have the opportunity to perform. Of course we were all excited about the performance that is personally one of the reason I took the class was to become more comfortable with myself and learn to be confident and sassy! As the weeks went buy I found it easy to learn the steps to our routine and the girls in the class said it was easy to follow me so they wanted me to be in the front. Usually being the tall one means I get put in the back, so this was a switch.
I was grateful for the family and friend that came and supported me. It was an unforgettable experience and now that it is on youtube everyone can see it. I plan on taking another class and learning even more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA9cvXegMTU

Autumn Colors

My favorite time of year is Autumn. I can't wait to get the camera and head up to the mountains to take in the fresh crisp air and the breath taking colors. I decided this year to take my backpack with a few things (water snacks sweatshirt, and camera) and do a little hiking since I had gotten off work a little early and it was one of the warmer fall days. Adam from work, who is a hard core cyclist, told me that the colors up at squaw peak were fantastic and that if you continued up the canyon you would eventually end up coming out of Hobble Creek Canyon in springville. I had driven up to squaw peak before and continued up to the rock canyon overlook but never continued, so I made my mind up that today was the day to go all the way. There were so may beautiful spots and I was not the only one taking pictures. Once you got off the paved road it became dry and dusty. My car looked like it belong in a car wash commercial because of all the dust. I started with my sunroof open but quickly closed it due to the dust growing on the dashboard. I am grateful for 4 wheel drive because there were a few parts that were so bumpy and dry that it gave me comfort and confidence to go it alone with out the fear of getting stuck. I ususally end up going after peak week but hit it just right this year. Two days after I went the first snow fell up at the higher elevations. I must say that Utah has had some stange season this year, but they did produce some magnificent landscapes.

Risotto Madness

I am often asked, "what is your speciality?" To be honest I don't like that question. I like all food and don't necessarily focus on one thing, but when people ask me what I like to make I will always answer RISOTTO. It is delicious and you can do so much with it.

I personally like to cook for other people and not just myself. I had offered my friend Romeo a risotto cooking lesson when I finally got settled in to my new apartment. The time came and we set a date. I mentioned it to my friend Brooke and she started inviting more people who wanted to learn. When the day arrived we had a total of 12 people invited to learn how to make risotto. We were supposed to start at 6 but these things never start on time. I had gone all out and made flank steak, southwestern chicken breasts, chile verde sausages, home made sour dough bread and roasted veggies! Everything was ready to go at 6 but we finally started at 8 and started to eat around 9.

I took my camera out of the bed room because I wanted to take some pictures but I was too busy cooking. Ben picked up the camera and started shooting pictures for me. Brooke saw how much fun it was and decided they were going to have a contest to see who could take the best and coolest picture. In my opinion Ben won, but they both had fun in the process. It was a night full of good food, good friends, and lots of laughter!!!

Life on my own, again!!

Well it is official I am the lone Johnson in Utah. JayLynn and Jake are now in Washington and I am left alone. I have to admit that I miss the kids and talking with Jay at night when she gets home from work. She was staying with me while she finished out her 2 weeks at her job. It was the closest thing to a roommate that I am going to have for a while.

I am now living in Orem and I love it!!! I am closer to work and that means I can start riding my bike again, closer to the singles ward and all of my single friends. Life is GOOD!!! Even with Jay and Jake gone I still have a great support system. I live in the same complex as my friends Brooke and Amy. We spend quite a few nights out in the hot tub and the pool relaxing. We have been making all sorts of new friends that also live in the apartments. With school starting at UVU and BYU this week there have been a lot of new move in's! We met a very nice young man named Ben one night while soaking in the hot tub. He is a lot of fun and likes to cook so we invited him to a risotto party at my place. A few days later we met another nice young man named Kyle. He is going to UVU and was a swimmer in high school and was giving me all sorts of great swim workouts. I plan on using them to get in the best shape of my life.

Work is trying at times but because of the great friends I work with we all support each other to get through the day with smiles on our faces. Even thought we see each other all day long we still enjoy getting together and watching movies, playing games and of course eating. We had a nacho libre party a few weeks ago and I decided I would live the rest of my life happy and content if I never saw that movie again. It is one of those movies you love to quote but d0n't NEED to watch over and over. Adam is a big time cyclist and Marco is a runner so they both wear STRETCHY PANTS (said with a Spanish accent) that is the big joke right now. I realize that I was blessed to have Jay's family down here with me but that is was time for them to go and me to move on with my life. I have been equally blessed with the new family of friends that I have been given to uplift and support me in their absence. I only hope I can do for them what they do for me.

When Love Returns to a Broken Heart

After a person has been divorced it takes a while for the heart to heal enough to be ready for love again. I have often wondered how long this would take and when it would happen. I will say I knew it was going to have to be someone special to make my heart feel love again.

Before you get to excited and want to know who he is I need to say that the Lord is in control. He knows what we need, who we need and when we need it and if we do our part in following him and trying to line our life with his, then blessing will be poured out upon us. I am truly grateful for the Savior and the Atonement in my life. It may sound so easy to place your yolk upon him and let him bear the weight, but it is not. I now know that this can be done and that it is not easy but worth all the effort, tears and pain. Without all of those things we can not truly appreciate and savor the blessings, Joy and Love that follow.

My life is changing right now. Jay and Jake are moving back to Washington. I have been wanting to move out for a while but have been very comfortable and somewhat happy. I had been having a desire to start attending the singles ward, but struggled with leaving my calling in the young women's program in my family ward. I felt as if I was being selfish and letting the Lord down. After prayer and careful consideration I decided to talk to my bishop about going to a singles ward. I explained how I was feeling and what was going on at home and his reply was " if that is what you feel you need to do, you have my support."

I called my friend Brooke and found out which ward she attended and went to check it out. It felt so comfortable in her ward, like I had been attending there for a while. So many people who have had hard things happen to them just like me. Brothers and Sisters from all over the world, it was like a big singles melting pot. I felt like I was home, like I belonged there. Brooke introduced me to several people and friends in the ward, but there was one that stood out. His name is Denise and he is from Nigeria, Africa. Now the only black people I have ever had any contact with were in culinary school and they were lets say a little rough. Denise is different and I could tell instantly just by shaking his hand and introducing myself. I have gotten to know Denise very well over the past few weeks and it is still mind boggling to wrap my head around our relationship. Now don't go crazy and think by me using the word relationship that Denise and I are anything but friends. We are friends and only friends but, the connection and level of friendship we share is truly sent from the Lord. I believe it goes back to what I said earlier about the lord knowing what and WHO we need in our lives.

Denise and I have has similar experiences in our past marriages. If anyone has experienced what we have then they would know for themselves how it feels to live through something like that and come out alive but very altered. It messes with your emotions like you can not comprehend unless you have lived it. I believe that is one reason we have such a strong connection and understanding of each other. In the past three weeks we have spent more time together that I have spent with any of my other friends. When we talk it is so natural and easy. He makes me feel as though I am important, special and can share anything with him. A man that truly listens and responds. The first thing he says when he sees me is always a compliment of some kind and it is always heart felt and sincere. I am not self conscious around him because he places more worth on a persons inside than outside. He truly tries to live life by improving not only himself, but also anyone who he comes in contact with by leaving them a better than he found them. Denise is so intelligent, blunt and straight forward and has brought out a better me. He has helped me to open my heart again so that I know that it is ready for love again.

I am grateful for his friendship and the things we have been able to share with each other. The Lord knows what he is doing, all we have to do is have faith, hope and do the work and we will be blessed.

A Night Out.....

I feel like a single mother of three right now. Jay and Jake both work nights and so I spend a lot of time with the kids. I enjoy the time with them but at the same time I am still single and need to get out more. On May 30th there was a awards dinner for the "best of state" winners. As in years past we entered and came out victorious. This is our 6th time winning and Ron and Mary have always gone to accept the award. This year we were so busy with events that Mary and Rachel had to work so Mary asked that Adam and I go and accept for the company, what an honor and a great reason to buy a new dress. Then came the news, Mary asked that Adam and I wear our chef coats, she wanted us to stand out and believe me we did.



They have the winners for each catagory go on to the stage in a group and give every one fake medals. Then they hurry you back stage and take your fake medal and have you stand in line for the real one. Following that there is another line to have your picture taken then it is back to your table to finish you dinner.


Working for a catering company you get picky about food. We had eaten at the salt palace before and were not expecting great things that night. It figures that just as it is our turn to go up and recieve the award they put our dinner on the table. By the time we got back it was cold and gross instead of just gross. There was some great entertainment and several local celebraties and lots of laughs from our table. I had a great time and was glad Mary asked me to go. Next time I hope I get to buy a new dress and find a date.

My new adventure Network Marketing.......

I know we all have had "those" people who have said, "come to this meeting I have something I want to show you." Well I have turned in to one of "those" people, not that there is anything wrong with those people. I have found out recently that it is an exciting busniess. If you were wondering why I decided to do this, let me share with you a little about it. The name of the product is Mondelis. Monde in french means world and the L I S on the end stands for Leading, Internet, Society. Now I know all of you have something to do with the internet or you would not be reading this blog. I am willing to bet that most of you reading this have purchased something on line in the past 6 months and I am also willing to bet that a good percentage of you have played some sort of video game in the past year. There are so many people on Facebook that if it were a country it would be the 5th largest in the world. The internet is part of everyday life for the majority of people all over the world. Well Mondelis gives you the opportunity to create income with the internet, games and shopping.

I did all of my Christmas shopping online this year because I was so busy. I wish I had know about Mondelis then because I would have been able to shop with a discount at many of the stores I purchased things from. With the rising gas prices there is also a great gas program that can get you 25$ a month for going to the same gas station to fill up.

I like Mondelis because it is not a pill, lotion, magic drink or a soap. I don't have to keep an inventory in my garage that will take me forever to sell. The online games that will be a part of Mondelis are sold online, at video game stores and other everyday stores like walmart, target, and best buy. They are out there and people who play video game will have no trouble finding them and downloading them so they can play. Why not get a piece of the pie.

I figured this would be a great opportunity for me personally as well. This is a chance to get out there and meet people, force myself to be more sociable. I am setting goals and working on reaching them. It is a great overall experience for me. If this is something you would like to learn more about go to http://www.mindolamay.mondelis.net/ and look around. There are weekly conference calls and webinars to help with learning and growing your business. It really is quite fun. Check it out.......... You never know you might become one of "those" people yourself and love it too!

Color in Spring

I love the Amazing Race. Call me a fan, obsessed, crazy whatever. I remember an episode from last season where the contestants, who were in India, had to run through a crowd of people throwing colored chalk at them, to retrieve an envelope. I thought what fun that would be. Well come to find out that it was a celebration to bring in spring for the Krishna's. Some friends and I decided to go and participate. What an experience!!!! There were so many people we had to fight to buy the last few bags of color. We were lucky!! They light a big bonfire and the color throwing begins.

(great video of it on YouTube look up festival of colors 2009- Spanish fork,UT)

When I got home bubba usually calls out my name and like clock work he did until he saw me. I was then that the tone in his voice changed to a "I know it's Mimi but she is colored with color" tone. It was cute.

Seattle Fun!!!

I always enjoy going to Seattle to visit my family. Since I am living with Jay and Jake right now I get to do alot of things with their kids. Well Tami, Chris, Chelsea and Cassidy picked me up from the airport and decided that it was their turn to have fun with me. The girls were so excited to spend the day with me and show me all of their favorite things to do in Seattle.


We started off by having lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I have never eaten there but have looked at all of the great things on the outside. The hostess sat us down right by a group of gorillas. Chelsea loved it but Cassidy was not too sure. The lights would start flashing and you would hear thunder and all of the animals would start to making noise and moving. It was a great atmosphere!!

Next we went to the girls school and I got to meat their teachers and see their classrooms. They were so excited and had been looking forward to this all week.

Finally we ended up at Pike Place Market. This is one of my favorite things to do. I remember going there while in culinary school with the rest of my class and just walking around looking at produce and trying new things. I am surprised at how well the girls know their way around the market. We both have a favorite spot to visit first and that is the Doughnut Booth!!! It is a little 10X10 booth with a machine that presses the mini doughnut batter out of a device into the hot oil with a arm that flips it over half way through and pops it out into a tray. They are always fresh and they come plain, cinnamon & sugar, powder sugar or the favorite SPRINKLES!!!! It costs about $2.50 for a dozen and you just walk down the market with brown bag in hand and see the sights. It is a tradition. Another thing that is just so Pike Place is the beautiful flowers that are there. They have dried flowers year round but when the flowers are in bloom, like right now it is tulip season, there are fresh flowers everywhere. It is a feast for the eyes and perfume for the nose. We decided to get a bunch for grandma as a surprise!!!

They have a really cool pasta booth where you could buy everything from normal pasta to fruit pasta to CHOCOLATE Pasta. Way cool!!! Yes I am a food nerd!!

Tami had a camera she thought I would be interested in buying from her and she let me take it for a test drive while I was home. I fell in love with it and had a lot of fun shooting pictures of all of the kids with their cousins and at Pike Place Market. Here are just a few of the tons that I took. Enjoy!

What happens in VEGAS........

Things have been a little crazy since my last post. I catered Brad & Ericas wedding reception up in Seattle. It was fun and crazy all at the same time. When I got back to work we were busy getting ready for a "wedding" in Vegas at the ICA/Catersource convention. The party was for 1300 people and it was a fake reception. We had dozens of sponsors that wanted us to do our best to spotlight their food or product and convince the thousands of others caterers there to purchase and use in their own businesses. NO PRESSURE!

We were staying at the Hilton which is where the conference was being held and working in their kitchen. Working in an kitchen that is not your own is stressful enough, but then throw in chefs from other companies that have volunteered to help prep and our own event staff that know a little about helping in the kitchen, and it can make the situation worse. We had two and half daysto prep about 85% of the food for the event which was on Tuesday night.

The menu was a "his" and "hers" type of theme. They each had their own appetizers, speciality drinks, desserts and action station menus. There was a fake bride, groom and wedding party. They would wander around and mingle as if it were a real reception. It was fabulous. The room was beautiful and we had plenty of food and no one went thirsty. I think that means it was a success.

I will admit I was dreading the trip. I arrived at work at 4 a.m. on the 22nd we packed the food we had already prepped and hit the road by 6 a.m. We arrived in Las Vegas by 12:30 ready to unload everything we had brought. After a tour of the room where the party would take place and the kitchen we would be living in the next few days we ate a quick lunch and got right to work. We finished at about 6:30 and had dinner reservations for 8:30. At about 11:30 we were in our rooms hitting the sack having to be back in the kitchen by 7 a.m. the next morning.

Monday morning the alarm goes off and I get out of bed, hit the shower and walk down to the kitchen. We had a quick continental breakfast and pulled out the knives and went to work. Luckily we were ahead of schedule so Kalli, Adam and I were able to go out and enjoy a little of the strip. We hit M&M world (to get the kids treats from Vegas) and the Coke store. Took out picture with Elvis and Micheal Jackson and my favorite color M&M the green one.

We needed to save out feet for Tuesday night so we decided to head back. We saw a photo booth and could not resist so we squished ourselves in it and made a memory. Tuesday rolls around and we are in the kitchen again at 7 a.m. ready to begin another long day. We had chefs from all over the country helping us prepare and cook that day. The event started at 7 p.m. and was supposed to wrap up at 11 p.m. The chefs were told to leave after we had broken down our stations in the back which we finished up at about 11:30 p.m. The rest of our crew were there until about 2 a.m. They were up again at 8 a.m. ready to load the last of our things and hit the road to head back home.

The event was a success and proves to me that I am blessed to have a skill that can take me to any kitchen any where and be able to do my thing. I am also grateful for the wonderful team we worked with. It was not possible without all of them. We are more like a family and I know this experience will be with all of us for a long time.

I was able to take a few pictures in the kitchen but none the night of the event. I am also in charge of a section of our work blog. I am sure there will be more pictures there. www.culinarycrafts.com click on the blog link.

Mixing wild rice pancake batter

Scooping the pancakes

Flipping the pancakes on the grill to cook








Kalli scooping 1300 Lamb Burgers





Seperating butter lettuce for
Pork Wraps

Work Christmas Party

This year we went to soldier hollow for a few hours of tubing. What a wonderful experience. I had so much fun. It was a pleasant evening and not too cold. The tube tow rope is a fantastic invention. The one thing I don't like about tubing is the walking back up the hill and being so tired that it is almost not worth the ride down again. The tow ride up the hill was an enjoyable one with a quick little hill at the top to make sure you get out of the way before the next person pops over. My friend Kalli and I made a train for our first run down and it was so slick that night that they told you to dig your heels into the snow to start slowing yourself down so you would not run into the fence at the bottom. When the time came to dig my heels I did and Kalli was blanketed in a soft white powder. Since Jake works with us the kids were able to go and they didn't even wait for supervision. Once they saw how the whole thing worked they were off!!!! Kalli and I made a train with Riley once and then Kaley and I made a train. We had so much fun I can't wait to go again.

A Year Of Change

As in years past and just like everyone else I have set some resolutions for the year. I have not had much success in years past but would like to change that this year. I have been through many different challenges this past year and have grown from each of them. With some of those challenges came with lots of tears and heartache others many, many tears and endless nights of prayer. Then there are those that included all tears, heartache and prayer. My family and friends could not have been a more of a support of blessing during the past 12 months. I am truly blessed and thank my father in heaven for them every night.



I have made a list of things I would like to change this year and I figure it would be better if all of those people that have been a support to me knew what it was that I wanted to accomplish so they could once again help and support me in their own and unique ways.




So here is the list.......

Attend the temple at least once a month

Get healthy (given)

Be more outgoing and social (single adult activities)

Serve in my new calling to the best of my ability

Complain less and compliment more




Look for more opportunities to serve






Share my testimony at least once a month

Stay out of debt and become more financially stable

Organize and expand my emergency preparedness




Be ready to own a home by the end of the year




Start gathering my family history


There you have it. I know there are always things that I will add or some of the things that I have forgotten to put down, but these are the important ones. I feel a great sense of hope about the year ahead of me and am excited about what I have accomplished so far. I again thank everyone who has helped and touched my life.


The lord knows what we need and also who we need.